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I Want Off The Social Media Merry-Go-Round

Lately I really want to get off the social media merry-go-round and go back to the good old days. I’d like to give up my online presence and get back the hours that social media grabs from my life. I do like social media, it’s helped me grow my business, I just get sick of it. I’m tired of all the the posting, responding and the constant pressure of trying to stand out in the midst of the noise.

And I wonder, does it really work? Would my business grow without it? What would happen if I gave it up? Would my business go away? Would I miss it? What would I do with all the time I spend online? What would happen to my life, my career and my relationships if I got offline and connected ONLY in real time, face-to-face?

The problem is I can’t go back to business the way it used to be. Business has changed. I no longer get a live person on the phone – I get voice mail. I no longer talk face-to-face, I email. I no longer get to share my victories in person because I share them online first. And while there are good things about social media – there’s a dark side.

The dark side is that social media is impersonal, phony and fools us into thinking we’re connecting. We waste time scrolling through other peoples lives, while missing out on our own. We get caught up in projecting a perfect image instead of living our own imperfect life. We spend hours connecting online but end up feeling lonely and disconnected.

We work hard to be online, to look successful and to connect with our followers. Yet I think we need to stop and ask ourselves if it’s working? Are our efforts growing our business? Are we truly engaged in marketing or are we just wasting time posting things that no one cares about? Or maybe we’re just wasting time surfing our news feeds when we could be doing something GREAT?

I’m not really going to leave social media just yet. But this week I felt the need to stop and ask myself some tough questions in regards to my online presence. I started by asking the following:

Am I being authentic?

Am I keeping my priorities straight?

Am I using social media appropriately?

I am using social media to avoid doing things that I should be doing?

Is it working?

While I take some time to sit with these questions, I would ask you to do the same. And as you sit with these questions or come up with your own, I’d love to hear your thoughts.